a question for the tech savvy...
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Hi @notmyown,
Always happy to see you, and thanks for asking such a great question!
I think you've been here for as long as I have -- back in 2009, forums were hoppin'! This was the first Christian forum I joined, then tried 3 others (all of which have closed,) mostly because I was going through some things and found I felt better when I was able to see people exchanging ideas.
These days, I think there are so many choices (and with much shorter communication formats,) that I've lost touch with a ton of people -- mostly because we disagree on or aren't part of the same social media apps. I'm always sorry to lose friends but I've prayed that God would lead me to the sites He wants me on and that's it, because otherwise it gets too overwhelming.
Of course, if I feel especially moved to follow someone to a different media, I would (probably fussing all the way because it's yet another thing to keep track of, but I would try!) I'm also trying a new site right now because of God leading me into other subjects of interest that are taking up the majority of my free time.
I also think attention spans are shortening all the time, which of course I fall victim to as well. The number one complaint I get about my posts is that they're too long, lol, and I completely understand that. Sometimes I just skim posts as well, and I encourage people to skip mine as well if they're not interested. I just take it as, long posts are only for a small fraction of the community, but that's ok. Even if it only reaches one person, that might be the exact person God had in mind to speak to through that post.
That's what I love about writing though -- it's not like the phone where you get stuck listening to Aunt Bertha's hour-long rant about her garbage can being knocked over -- you can just move on, and at any time.
I do think writing is very much a dying art though and these types of forums will probably continue to dwindle as the younger generations rise up and are more averse to any piece of written material over 8 words
, but who knows. I might be wrong about this, but it seems to me that these more writing-centered mediums are no dominated by older people who stay at home, are retired, or have conditions in their lives that isolate them from most others in real life.
I remember when I started, I think the Singles forum's majority age bracket was around 20-35. These days I would guess it's more like 30-55 and up.
"Back in my day," people would have never dreamed of a place like this or something called the internet, so maybe something even more helpful and user-friendly is right around the corner.
Blessings to you and so glad to see you posting!
Always happy to see you, and thanks for asking such a great question!
I think you've been here for as long as I have -- back in 2009, forums were hoppin'! This was the first Christian forum I joined, then tried 3 others (all of which have closed,) mostly because I was going through some things and found I felt better when I was able to see people exchanging ideas.
These days, I think there are so many choices (and with much shorter communication formats,) that I've lost touch with a ton of people -- mostly because we disagree on or aren't part of the same social media apps. I'm always sorry to lose friends but I've prayed that God would lead me to the sites He wants me on and that's it, because otherwise it gets too overwhelming.
Of course, if I feel especially moved to follow someone to a different media, I would (probably fussing all the way because it's yet another thing to keep track of, but I would try!) I'm also trying a new site right now because of God leading me into other subjects of interest that are taking up the majority of my free time.
I also think attention spans are shortening all the time, which of course I fall victim to as well. The number one complaint I get about my posts is that they're too long, lol, and I completely understand that. Sometimes I just skim posts as well, and I encourage people to skip mine as well if they're not interested. I just take it as, long posts are only for a small fraction of the community, but that's ok. Even if it only reaches one person, that might be the exact person God had in mind to speak to through that post.
That's what I love about writing though -- it's not like the phone where you get stuck listening to Aunt Bertha's hour-long rant about her garbage can being knocked over -- you can just move on, and at any time.
I do think writing is very much a dying art though and these types of forums will probably continue to dwindle as the younger generations rise up and are more averse to any piece of written material over 8 words
, but who knows. I might be wrong about this, but it seems to me that these more writing-centered mediums are no dominated by older people who stay at home, are retired, or have conditions in their lives that isolate them from most others in real life.I remember when I started, I think the Singles forum's majority age bracket was around 20-35. These days I would guess it's more like 30-55 and up.
"Back in my day," people would have never dreamed of a place like this or something called the internet, so maybe something even more helpful and user-friendly is right around the corner.
Blessings to you and so glad to see you posting!
you're such a thoughtful woman, seoul! ♥
i'm always a day late and a dollar short, apparently, since i didn't join CC till 2012.
i so agree about our attention spans. this past year i've set to reading Dumas, Hugo, (books which, heretofore, i had only read in French for a French class), Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and of course more of my dusty old theology books
D). i did it to force myself to spend more than 2 hours with a book. gotta say; mixed success in terms of enjoyment. one French writer spent what took about 2 hours to read just detailing the Battle of Waterloo! lolmy dad died 11 years before my mom, and she had never lived alone. dad's sister in Holland, MI, was also alone, as she never married. i spent i dunno how many hours a week on the phone with them in their last years here. mom remained sharp as a tack, but Aunt Barb's memory was failing. who knows how many times she told me about the mismatched furniture in her first apartment, (she had a pink chair and a red sofa, for crying out loud. haha), or every detail about her first car, her trip to New Orleans, her friend Casey... it drove my older sister bonkers, but i think God gave me grace for it and i just smiled.
i loved them so, it was easy to hear their stories of days gone by. Aunt Barb would also talk about my dad when he was a little boy, and a teenager, and in college. i felt that made up for what might have been perceived by some as a loss of my time. as you know, i'm in NY, and mom was in NC. none of us could travel, so i called them and i'm so glad i did. if there were rants, i'm sure it was i doing the ranting.
i love your optimism! maybe it will be something even better than this. i doubt i'll be here to see it, but just this medium has brought so much joy to me through all the lovely people i've gotten to know a little. i hope you know, you're at the top of the list.
thank you for this response. the Lord bless you and keep you, dear one.
ps-- for kicks last month i went back many pages in Singles and read an old thread where all the youngsters were imitating other folks' posting styles. it was (mostly) hilarious! i noticed you were chosen by many of them to imitate. clearly you're loved by so many more than me!
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Eisenhower was president when i was born. things were changing, but slowly. party line to private, that was a big deal! push button dial as opposed to rotary, too. and color TV!
my son will happily tell you how much i don't like change. he's right, but if you tell him i said it, i'll deny it.
my son will happily tell you how much i don't like change. he's right, but if you tell him i said it, i'll deny it.
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hey, here's another woman i'm happy to hear from, because it's rare, like she is. a jewel ♥
i don't know if you were here when (esp in the BDF) we were being spammed by maybe bots? i think that's when it began that new threads had to be approved. i'd be so pleased to respond to a thread you started. AND i'll even try to behave. think about it!
i don't know if you were here when (esp in the BDF) we were being spammed by maybe bots? i think that's when it began that new threads had to be approved. i'd be so pleased to respond to a thread you started. AND i'll even try to behave. think about it!
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No no no, we need you and more people like you to stop by Singles more often.
We greatly appreciate our married friends who talk to us about life "on the other side" 😁 as friends and don't see us as a group to be pitied, scorned, or talked down to.
It seems to be very rare to find and we have a wide open honorary guest space in Singles for you anytime!
We greatly appreciate our married friends who talk to us about life "on the other side" 😁 as friends and don't see us as a group to be pitied, scorned, or talked down to.
It seems to be very rare to find and we have a wide open honorary guest space in Singles for you anytime!
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Warning! Long Post to a Friend!
you're such a thoughtful woman, seoul! ♥
i'm always a day late and a dollar short, apparently, since i didn't join CC till 2012.
i so agree about our attention spans. this past year i've set to reading Dumas, Hugo, (books which, heretofore, i had only read in French for a French class), Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and of course more of my dusty old theology booksD). i did it to force myself to spend more than 2 hours with a book. gotta say; mixed success in terms of enjoyment. one French writer spent what took about 2 hours to read just detailing the Battle of Waterloo! lol
my dad died 11 years before my mom, and she had never lived alone. dad's sister in Holland, MI, was also alone, as she never married. i spent i dunno how many hours a week on the phone with them in their last years here. mom remained sharp as a tack, but Aunt Barb's memory was failing. who knows how many times she told me about the mismatched furniture in her first apartment, (she had a pink chair and a red sofa, for crying out loud. haha), or every detail about her first car, her trip to New Orleans, her friend Casey... it drove my older sister bonkers, but i think God gave me grace for it and i just smiled.
i loved them so, it was easy to hear their stories of days gone by. Aunt Barb would also talk about my dad when he was a little boy, and a teenager, and in college. i felt that made up for what might have been perceived by some as a loss of my time. as you know, i'm in NY, and mom was in NC. none of us could travel, so i called them and i'm so glad i did. if there were rants, i'm sure it was i doing the ranting.
i love your optimism! maybe it will be something even better than this. i doubt i'll be here to see it, but just this medium has brought so much joy to me through all the lovely people i've gotten to know a little. i hope you know, you're at the top of the list.
thank you for this response. the Lord bless you and keep you, dear one.
ps-- for kicks last month i went back many pages in Singles and read an old thread where all the youngsters were imitating other folks' posting styles. it was (mostly) hilarious! i noticed you were chosen by many of them to imitate. clearly you're loved by so many more than me!
you're such a thoughtful woman, seoul! ♥
i'm always a day late and a dollar short, apparently, since i didn't join CC till 2012.
i so agree about our attention spans. this past year i've set to reading Dumas, Hugo, (books which, heretofore, i had only read in French for a French class), Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and of course more of my dusty old theology books
D). i did it to force myself to spend more than 2 hours with a book. gotta say; mixed success in terms of enjoyment. one French writer spent what took about 2 hours to read just detailing the Battle of Waterloo! lolmy dad died 11 years before my mom, and she had never lived alone. dad's sister in Holland, MI, was also alone, as she never married. i spent i dunno how many hours a week on the phone with them in their last years here. mom remained sharp as a tack, but Aunt Barb's memory was failing. who knows how many times she told me about the mismatched furniture in her first apartment, (she had a pink chair and a red sofa, for crying out loud. haha), or every detail about her first car, her trip to New Orleans, her friend Casey... it drove my older sister bonkers, but i think God gave me grace for it and i just smiled.
i loved them so, it was easy to hear their stories of days gone by. Aunt Barb would also talk about my dad when he was a little boy, and a teenager, and in college. i felt that made up for what might have been perceived by some as a loss of my time. as you know, i'm in NY, and mom was in NC. none of us could travel, so i called them and i'm so glad i did. if there were rants, i'm sure it was i doing the ranting.
i love your optimism! maybe it will be something even better than this. i doubt i'll be here to see it, but just this medium has brought so much joy to me through all the lovely people i've gotten to know a little. i hope you know, you're at the top of the list.
thank you for this response. the Lord bless you and keep you, dear one.
ps-- for kicks last month i went back many pages in Singles and read an old thread where all the youngsters were imitating other folks' posting styles. it was (mostly) hilarious! i noticed you were chosen by many of them to imitate. clearly you're loved by so many more than me!
One thing that has always stood out about you is your genuine love and patience with people. It's truly a gift we all wish we had more of.
As for the thread in which people were imitating other people's posting styles...
I remember Catherder wrote a page-long post on which he literally said, "Blah blah blah blah blah" the whole time -- as in, he actually wrote Blah continuously and little else, as well as naming me to make sure no one mistook his post for trying to mimic anyone else! 🤣
It was so dang funny I couldn't help but laugh out loud -- almost as many times as he wrote Blah. 🤪
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I 300% agree with you, Jenny. These days especially, it takes an entire spine and some pretty strong femurs to stand on if you're going to start threads, and I admire anyone who still does it.
Sure, there were always naysayers, but I could write a thread with a poll declaring, "I Am Thinking of Entering a Hot Dog Eating Contest" just for fun, and you can already predict the types of replies I'd get.
At least one person saying I'd go to hell for gluttony; another would say it's a sin to eat meat; someone would say eating hot dogs is a sin if they're made with pork; at least one person would self-righteously brag that they are vegan and NEVER harm ANY of God's creatures (I sure hope they don't wear or have anything made with animal by-products on their body or in their house); someone wouldn't like the way I structured the thread; at least 5 people would tell me my initial post was too long; and at least one person would say, "You should have included/excluded this or that answer in the poll" despite having NEVER written one themselves and not knowing the limitations of the system or how hard writing poll answers really is.
Now I COMPLETELY understand if someone is new and just doesn't know, or if it's truly constructive criticism -- in fact, the very reason I write my threads the way I do now is because someone years ago suggested I make a summary of discussion questions and put them at the end, and I've been doing that ever since.
But with all the other opposition that is bound to come up, one really has to wonder if it's worth the time and effort anymore. And the most annoying kind of criticism to me is from those who don't write threads at all, but have no qualms at telling others how to do it. Unless a person has written, I'd say, at least 20 threads, with at least half of them being about controversial subjects, at least 5 polls, and at least a year to see how the crowds change, they really don't have the full scope of what it takes.
These days, I have to admit that I've been spending more time blending into the crowds rather than trying to start discussions myself.
But every now and then, I still get that itch.
Sure, there were always naysayers, but I could write a thread with a poll declaring, "I Am Thinking of Entering a Hot Dog Eating Contest" just for fun, and you can already predict the types of replies I'd get.
At least one person saying I'd go to hell for gluttony; another would say it's a sin to eat meat; someone would say eating hot dogs is a sin if they're made with pork; at least one person would self-righteously brag that they are vegan and NEVER harm ANY of God's creatures (I sure hope they don't wear or have anything made with animal by-products on their body or in their house); someone wouldn't like the way I structured the thread; at least 5 people would tell me my initial post was too long; and at least one person would say, "You should have included/excluded this or that answer in the poll" despite having NEVER written one themselves and not knowing the limitations of the system or how hard writing poll answers really is.
Now I COMPLETELY understand if someone is new and just doesn't know, or if it's truly constructive criticism -- in fact, the very reason I write my threads the way I do now is because someone years ago suggested I make a summary of discussion questions and put them at the end, and I've been doing that ever since.
But with all the other opposition that is bound to come up, one really has to wonder if it's worth the time and effort anymore. And the most annoying kind of criticism to me is from those who don't write threads at all, but have no qualms at telling others how to do it. Unless a person has written, I'd say, at least 20 threads, with at least half of them being about controversial subjects, at least 5 polls, and at least a year to see how the crowds change, they really don't have the full scope of what it takes.
These days, I have to admit that I've been spending more time blending into the crowds rather than trying to start discussions myself.
But every now and then, I still get that itch.
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J
Controversial subjects demand a strong will to stand up for oneself, and an ability to not take personal attacks personally. I’m not fit for that fight anymore, even though I’m just a nickname at cc. Some of the trolls have a unique way of getting under my skin. Might could be because I’m psychologically weak or a negative narcissist. I don’t know.
I really admire you for actually writing threads about controversial topics, but these days I’m mostly to startled to even participate.
I really admire you for actually writing threads about controversial topics, but these days I’m mostly to startled to even participate.
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J
it hardly has to be a controversial subject, at times.
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I have started a grand total of three threads since joining CC eight years ago .
The first was my introductory thread in the Poetry section.
I also started a music thread which I quickly realized was totally redundant (so many of those! LOL).
More than three years after joining, I started my Scripture Art thread.
I am waaayyyyyy behind on getting my panels in there (caught up to late last year so far).
I have designed 191 panels this year that are not in there yet... (if my count is correct).
There are also three blogs, but I did not mean to start threads with them. It was just
a way to save those threads for viewing later. That was before the platform change.
In fact it was shortly after joining. When the platform changed I asked about having
them removed/deleted, but I was only able/allowed to edit them. I don't recall what I did LOL
The first was my introductory thread in the Poetry section.
I also started a music thread which I quickly realized was totally redundant (so many of those! LOL).
More than three years after joining, I started my Scripture Art thread.
I am waaayyyyyy behind on getting my panels in there (caught up to late last year so far).
I have designed 191 panels this year that are not in there yet... (if my count is correct).
There are also three blogs, but I did not mean to start threads with them. It was just
a way to save those threads for viewing later. That was before the platform change.
In fact it was shortly after joining. When the platform changed I asked about having
them removed/deleted, but I was only able/allowed to edit them. I don't recall what I did LOL
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That sounds wrong. I went into a different folder where I save the panels by date when they are started, before getting closer to completion when I move to a different (panels only) folder and rename by verse citation... my count was ninety something (after searching for files starting with "2023"). The first folder I counted from was the finished [newer] panels. There must have been some older ones in there, from before this year. A year and a half ago I received this laptop from my daughter for Christmas, and started saving newer finished panels in a different folder from the earlier finished ones. Ugh. It's a lot to keep track of .. Thank God she had also given me a portable hard drive before that, since I have all my design images on it, and would have lost many/most of them when the hard drive on this device crapped out a year ago (about six months into using it .). I did lose some of my panels then, but only the working finished copies; because I had shared many of them, I was at least able to retrieve and re-save the finished resized versions of most of them. And I have the start versions of them (named by date), because those were on the portable HD, but some of those are so far away from what the finished version became that it would be ridiculous for me to try to update all of them.
Folder and image file counts for my panel designing
Templates 2,630 Files, 12 Folders (That includes 867 Files designed in the last year and a half.
That means working copy plus a flatted full size copy and a resized flattened copy for posting.)
Template Items 1,720 Files, 0 Folders (older ephemera saved to use in the design process)
Backgrounds 904 Files, 0 Folders (mostly from before getting this new laptop)
Christos 1,215 Files, 0 Folders
Equus 378 Files, 0 Folders (remember all those horses? LOL)
Frames and Borders 2,119 Files, 1 Folders (my start/working panel files are in this folder)
Florals 1,034 Files, 0 Folders
Fonts 644 Files (no design images, but I have searched out and saved hundreds of fonts to use on the panels)
Human Elements 3,402 Files, 0 Folders
Saved Images 2,788 Files, 2 Folders (This is where most [since Christmas of '21] of the new
ephemera gets saved. Ephemera are the bits and pieces I put together to design a panel.)
Christian Chat 407 Files, 1 Folders
tmi? LOL
. Thank God she had also given me a portable hard drive before that, since I have all my design images on it, and would have lost many/most of them when the hard drive on this device crapped out a year ago (about six months into using it .). I did lose some of my panels then, but only the working finished copies; because I had shared many of them, I was at least able to retrieve and re-save the finished resized versions of most of them. And I have the start versions of them (named by date), because those were on the portable HD, but some of those are so far away from what the finished version became that it would be ridiculous for me to try to update all of them.Folder and image file counts for my panel designing
Templates 2,630 Files, 12 Folders (That includes 867 Files designed in the last year and a half.
That means working copy plus a flatted full size copy and a resized flattened copy for posting.)
Template Items 1,720 Files, 0 Folders (older ephemera saved to use in the design process)
Backgrounds 904 Files, 0 Folders (mostly from before getting this new laptop)
Christos 1,215 Files, 0 Folders
Equus 378 Files, 0 Folders (remember all those horses? LOL)
Frames and Borders 2,119 Files, 1 Folders (my start/working panel files are in this folder)
Florals 1,034 Files, 0 Folders
Fonts 644 Files (no design images, but I have searched out and saved hundreds of fonts to use on the panels)
Human Elements 3,402 Files, 0 Folders
Saved Images 2,788 Files, 2 Folders (This is where most [since Christmas of '21] of the new
ephemera gets saved. Ephemera are the bits and pieces I put together to design a panel.)
Christian Chat 407 Files, 1 Folders
tmi? LOL
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Do you remember the title of that thread? I would love to see it .
i tried to find it, but then something happened in our lives that drove all other thoughts out.
naturally, that isn't hard to do with me.
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Eisenhower was president when i was born. things were changing, but slowly. party line to private, that was a big deal! push button dial as opposed to rotary, too. and color TV!
my son will happily tell you how much i don't like change. he's right, but if you tell him i said it, i'll deny it.
my son will happily tell you how much i don't like change. he's right, but if you tell him i said it, i'll deny it.
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